Prediction...Fewer Than 2,500 Banks by 2021 < Am Bkr Article

Many have argued that competitive pressures and increased regulatory costs will force a wave of consolidation in the banking industry. On Thursday, a prominent banker made a stark prediction about how many institutions will survive the next decade...the chairman, president and CEO at the Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., predicted that the number of banks in the United States would fall from about 7,600 today to below 5,000 in the next five years and below 2,500 in the next 10.